THE HONOR SYSTEM.
For eighteen years after the opening of the institution, written examinations
were conducted under the surveillance of a committee of three professors.
This was not altogether satisfactory, and in June, 1842, Judge Henry
St. George Tucker, Professor of Law, offered the following resolution which
the Faculty at once adopted:
Resolved, That in all future written examinations for distinction and other
honors of the University, each candidate shall attach to the written answers
presented by him on such examination a certificate in the following words:
"I, A. B., do hereby certify, on honor, that I have derived no assistance during
the time of this examination from any source whatever, whether oral, written,
or in print, in giving the above answers."
This was the beginning of the honor system at this institution and it
has been in operation ever since without interruption. Later the pledge was
extended so as to preclude the giving as well as the receiving of assistance.
Still more recently the scope of the honor system has been enlarged so as
to cover other phases of student conduct. Its administration is entirely in
the hands of the students, the essence of the system being that the violation
of a student's word of honor is an offense not against the university authorities
but against the whole student body, and in the rare occasions on which it has
occurred, the students themselves have quietly and promptly sent the offender
away from the University without need of faculty action.
Examinations are required to be held in one place and in the presence of
the professor in charge of the course or one of his assistants. These regulations
in no way conflict with the spirit of the honor system, but are regarded
as being necessary to give a proper dignity and formality to the occasion.
